instructional design

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN Create your own e‐course!

Bert Coolen

2 | E ‐ B o o k l e t T i t l e

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

This E‐booklet was created by the Partnership for valorisation of the best e‐learning practices among teachers and trainers in Europe.

Instructional Design | 3

Contents 1. Why this guide was created........................................................ 5

2. Who it is aimed at ...................................................................... 5

3. Structure of the guide ................................................................ 5

4. Introduction in Instructional Design............................................ 5

5. ADDIE Model .............................................................................. 6

6. Analysis ...................................................................................... 6

What is Analysis phase? ................................................................. 6

Analysis phase step by step ............................................................ 7

Conclusions.................................................................................... 9

7. Design ........................................................................................ 9

Introduction ................................................................................... 9

Structure ...................................................................................... 10

Scenario ....................................................................................... 11

Conclusion ................................................................................... 12

8. Development............................................................................ 12

Introduction ................................................................................. 12

Learning objects ........................................................................... 13

Steps to take ................................................................................ 13

Things to consider ........................................................................ 14

9. Implementation........................................................................ 15

Internal Marketing ....................................................................... 15

Delivery........................................................................................ 16

Use & Assistance .......................................................................... 17

4 | Instructional Design

Things to consider ........................................................................18

10. Evaluation.............................................................................20

Formative Evaluation....................................................................20

Summative Evaluation..................................................................21

The ADDIE‐model .........................................................................22

11. General recommendations ...................................................23


1. Why this guide was created Over the last ten years digital learning was growing heavily on the private market. With the advent of open source software, many schools started with the introduction of digital teaching materials in their courses.

The production of digital content remains a labor‐intensive activity. Non‐professional developers often feel insecure when producting digital learning materials and the quality often remains lamentably low. The last few years the market launched more easy‐to‐handle and cheaper tools and services, which affect the growing interest of the educational world to invest in digital learning.

This guide will help you in an efficient way to develop new digital materials, without being an IT expert.

2. Who it is aimed at This guide is meant for the teaching profession, trainers, coaches, – anyone who wants to develop electronic teaching materials in a creative way without the need to call on IT expertise.

3. Structure of the guide The focus of this small guide is to explain how you can properly develop good digital learning materials. We pay attention to each of the steps important for the development of digital learning material and enrich the guide with several tips and tricks.

4. Introduction in Instructional Design Instructional design (ID) is a process to help determine the needs of learners, what the final goal will be of the course, what the course will look like and how to make the created course available to the learner.


It is based on a pedagogical approach and aims to serve all learners by using different learning styles throughout the course. There are many models but most models are based on the ADDIEmodel which stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation.

In this booklet you will get more information about how to work with this ADDIE model.

5. ADDIE Model In the ADDIE model you can distinguish five steps. Each step plays an important role in the creation of a good course.

• Analysis: In this phase you ask yourself several questions in order to determine the components necessary for the next phases of development.

• Design: In the design phase you create a structure and a scenario.

• Development: Here you start to put all content elements together.

• Implementation: How to deliver the course to the learner? • Evaluation: You evaluate the created product and the use of

it.

6. Analysis

What is Analysis phase? The first phase is one of the most important phases in the creating of e‐learning content. This is where the lifecycle of your project begins. In this phase you think about the set up of your course and this will have implications on all other phases. Courses do not appear by accident, they need good planning and analysis.


The analysis phase consists of five important questions. Each answer will have consequences for your future steps.

These are the five questions:

• What is the goal of your course? • Who is your target group? • What content do you (want to) have? • Which environment will you use? • What are your resources?

These questions are open‐ended questions and will have personal answers that only relate to your organization and your course. They form the basis for the subsequent development activities.

Carpenters utilize the old proverb, "measure twice; cut once." Although carpenters are talking about wood, and we're talking about training, we share a common goal—do it right the first time. So, we could change the carpenter's old saying to fit the ADDIE methodology. "Analyze fully; design once." 1

Analysis phase step by step Good analysis will create a right level of expectation and can prevent many problems. When developing e‐learning content it helps to use the following checklist.

Goal: What do you want to achieve? What learning goals are you aiming at?

• What knowledge? What skills? What attitudes? • How deep? Knowing or knowing how? • Achievable? Realistic? Neither too high nor too low?

1 http://www.intulogy.com/addie/analysis.html


Target group: Who do you want to reach? What are the characteristics of your target group?

• How big is your target group? Where are they geographically? Where and when are they available?

• What motivates them? Learning opportunities? Prior knowledge required? Familiarity with ICT?

• What infrastructure does your target group have? • Course may not be too basic (boring) nor too specialised

(drop‐out). Take time to analyse your target group!

Content: What content do you already have? In which format?

• Can you process the content yourself or do you need more expertise?

• Does the content (text, visual material, etc.) already exist ? On paper or in digital format?

• To what degree is this content readily available (copyright)?

Environment: Management support? Learning culture? Obligatory or voluntary? Blended or stand‐alone?

Resources: And, last but not least. This element, will define your limits to a large degree.

• How much money is available? Is there a budget for outsourcing development?

• How much time is available for this project (creation, implementation)? Days, months?

• How many people can be put to work on it? Internal, external ? Experience with e‐learning content?

• What infrastructure do you have access to for development and delivery? Computer, peripheral equipment and software?


• Are support services available or possible (helpdesk, coaching)?

Conclusions • All these questions will help you describe the course's

learning objectives. • If you do not create clear objectives the designer will have to

guess the course's goals and objectives and the needs of your learners may not be satisfied.

• It is important to pay a serious attention to all these questions. They will help you to build up the e‐course faster and better.

7. Design

Introduction E‐learning content is designed using a structure and a scenario. The structure acts as a stepping stone for moving to the learning content later on. The scenario refers to the story, the way you present the learning content.

Structure = split up the content into smaller units and divide into a tree structure.

Scenario = integrate various exercises (texts, images, animation, interaction, exercises)

The main question that the concept has to answer is “What experiences are you providing and in which order? so that course participants are able to process the learning content as quickly and accurately as possible ”. Think about the different learning styles and a few basic principles from the ‘Instructional Design’. Instructional design is a discipline in which a systematic approach is taken to


designing and developing effective learning material based on learning theories and models.

At the start of this phase, you should have a good idea of prior acquired knowledge of the learners. You should also know what learners will need to learn during the course. Normally you will have dealt with this in the first phase of the ADDIE model.

Basic questions in the design phase are:

• How should content be organized? • How should you present the course to learners? • How the course will be delivered to learners? • What types of activities and exercises will best help learners?

(learningstyles) • How should the course measure learners' accomplishments?

Structure Structure is clear and strict:

How do you structure the content in a logical and concise manner? How do you make a pedagogically sound structure?

• Limit the number of levels in the structure of the content, preferably to a maximum three.

• First the core, then the details. Explain the basic concepts and structures first and only then go into the further details. Avoid explaining everything in one go. You can provide details more easily by using the Web rather than in a book (for example via hyperlinks, mouse‐overs, pop‐ups).

• Global ‐ analytical ‐ summarised. o Global: First provide a global explanation of what will

be covered. o Analytical: Then explain one element at a time.


o Summarised: Finally, provide a clear and complete summary.

• Pedagogic order: for this use a taxonomy of learning goals in order to create an order for the content.

o What will the target group learn? Facts, concepts, relationships, structures, methods, attitudes.

o To what depth? Knowing, understanding, doing, integrating

You can explain the content to learners in several ways. It is up to you to choose the most convenient way for your learners and use this method consistently during the whole course.

• Step‐by‐step • Part‐to‐whole • Whole‐to‐part • Known‐to‐unknown • General‐to‐specific

Scenario Build up an interesting and learner‐friendly story. Introduce each part of the structure and each piece of content, by using a variety of exercises. Ensure that you use different learning styles : (inter)active experience, observation, reflection, conceptualization, experimentation, application.

Put these different learning styles to practice by using texts, tables, stories, images, sounds, videos, animations, simulations, tests, interactive animation, exercises, role playing etc.

• Cut the content into small pieces (which can stand on their own), to present on one screen.

• Create an overview of learning units (chunks) and determine which chunks need prior acquired knowledge.


• Select for each chunk which examples are available or have to be created.

• Create a timetable for each chunk. • Select the experts who can help you with the creation and the

delivery of the content and the examples. • Put a deadline on each action. • Check the progress of all actions on a regular basis.

Conclusion

It is important that your keep your structure on a maximum of 3 levels so the users of your e‐course don’t lose the overview of the course. If you work with a variation of learning methods, all learners will benefit from it.

8. Development

Introduction If you want to develop successfully it all depends on what you decided in the first phase (Analysis) and the decisions made in the second phase (Design). If you paid enough attention to these two phases your development process will run smoothly and quickly. Major decisions have been made, i.e. purpose of the course, structure, and content. Once this is clear it is rather easy to start developing and writing the appropriate materials.

Starting the development of your course implicates that you have to create learning objects.

Learning objects are pieces of learning content that explain a subject in one single way. They may comprise text, images, hyperlinks and also audio, video or animation with or without interaction. When we


combine the learning objects into one single structure, we end up with an e‐course.

Learning objects Each piece of text, each photo, video or animation, but also pages with a combination of these elements can be considered as learning objects. As long as they each only explain one single subject in one single way. You can make learning objects yourself or use existing material. To create your own learning objects you need appropriate software for each different type, when (re)using existing materials you need to be aware of copyright.

Once all learning objects are created, you put them together to create an E‐course

Link the learning objects to the structure and choose a suitable navigation interface. For this you will need an authoring tool. Test early prototypes of your e‐course or learning objects with a pilot group.

Steps to take Before you start with creating learning objects, keep the following steps in mind:

1. Develop a prototype. With this prototype you can decide on which aspects you still want to change. A good look and feel is important as well as different ways of explaining the content. This is to diversify in learning styles. Some students like to have a lot of text, others are more graphic oriented or like to practice a lot.

2. Develop all learning objects relevant to the subject. 3. Review the developed course to assure that the content is

accurate and complete.


4. Run a pilot session. Select a small number of users who can test the course. • Does your course work on all devices • Are users satisfied about the approach • Do they meet your learning goals

5. Carry out a survey among the pilot users: • Can they point out the more difficult/easy parts of the

course? • Do they understand the way of working? • Do they like the navigation? • Do they like the look and feel? • Do they need more diversification? • Which parts should be revised?

When needed, you can organise follow‐up interviews in order to understand the issues encountered by the pilot users.

Things to consider • Set up a good communication structure between the design

and the development team. • Gather a capable development team that meets the needs of

the designers. • Be clear to the design team about time related expectations. • Be clear to the design team about resource related

expectations. • Make sure the development team has the appropriate skills

and capacity to meet the deadline. • Make a clear and irreversible choice on the authoring tool

that will be used. • Consider that the course may need to operate on a number of

different devices. • Explore all available options before you start developing your

prototype.


9. Implementation When following the ADDIE‐model you will overcome most of the problems as you have been planning, developing and testing before you launch your course for the bigger audience.

The implementation needs to be well prepared as this is crucial for the success of your course.

Internal Marketing Target Group: Don't assume that students will use your course because you made it. You need to inform them in several ways:

• Before you launch your course, make some promotion and continue this promotion after the launch as well or they will forget the existence of your course.

• Inform your users, by explaining them what they can expect from the new course you made.

• Inform their team leaders, to avoid wasting time answering always the same questions of the end users. Use the team leaders as a buffer, but also to enthuse them by showing them the advantages of the new course, the new method you introduce.

• Make them curious, by showing them small parts of your course, attractive elements you integrate in the course.

Management: Explain to your management

• What they can expect from the course; • the goals; • what the course will look like; • the release date; • how it will be implemented.


Delivery CD‐ROM: If some users have difficulties to go online (internet connection), it might be a good solution for distribute your course on CD‐ROM. When using a CD‐ROM assure that all required software is installed on the CD‐ROM.

Internet: Students can access the course at any time, from every place. As a teacher, instructor you will not know who is consulting your course online, how often and how long. In some cases you may not need a follow‐up. For example: in the case of additional learning materials.

Learning Management System (LMS): A learning Management System is like a digital library that structures all your online courses and gives you a good overview of the frequency of use. Implementing a LMS may require a serious investment, even with an open source LMS. You may need the help of a technical expert to manage the software and adapt it to your needs.

Mobile learning: Learning on mobile devices such as cell phones, is a recent development that looks very promising. The implementation on mobile devices raises questions like:

• Is the student obliged to stay online all the time or is synchronising before and after the course more than enough? (connection cost)

• Is your course compatible with all mobile devices? • Is your course adapted for small screens?

Of course more questions will raise, but these give you already a good start.


Use & Assistance When launching your course we recommend you to engage specialists on specific fields:

• on content level; • on technical level; • on motivation level; • on follow‐up level.

On content level: A content expert can help you out with all the small questions students come up with during the online course. The content expert can adjust the course in order to clarify difficult elements of the course and to update the course on a regular basis. Assisting students with their questions is a very time‐consuming job. Allow enough time for this.

On technical level: A technical expert is needed for recurring issues like:

• login and password problems; • platform failures; • assistence for updating the courses; • changes in look and feel; • navigation problems.

Once the instruction is launched it needs to perform impeccably in support of the learners. Web technology, as any technology, needs support. All links must function, servers must perform appropriately and timely, Internet access needs to be reliable, etc. Plan appropriately so in the event of a failure the system can be restored or a backup put in its place.

Be aware that not all technical support is the same. The difference between and excellent technical support service and a mediocre one is not that the latter cannot correct the problem. The difference is the


timeliness of that correction. Downtime can truly hurt your instruction. Look for good support; it is not expensive these days to find Internet Service Providers that guarantee 99% up time. If your institution is running its own ICT‐support, ask about the response time as well as the frequency of backups.

On motivational level: Students may start very enthusiastically with the online course, but as they have to study most of the things on their own, some will get bored or demotivated. A good coach can motivate the students to continue their online study. Sometimes only some small talks are sufficient enough to set the student back on track.

On follow‐up level: As you spent a lot of time in the creation of your course, you would like to know if the course is successful. Point out a person who can deliver you some figures on

• how frequent your course is used; • how many student are online every hour, day, week; • how many student accomplish the course; • the difficult parts in your course.

Of course several roles can be combined. Assure that your cover all fields to succeed.

The implementation phase is a crucial step in the whole process. If you allocate enough time, money and personnel during the implementation phase the success rate will be much higher.

Things to consider Introduce your course to your target audience


It is important that you inform your target audience about what they can expect, especially when it is the first time you launch an e‐course. Set up some promotional activities in order to reach a large part of your target audience. Continue your promotion after the course has started. Keep informing the target group about the goals and the benefits of the course. Involve your HR‐department.

Introduce your course to your management

As training is not the core‐business of the management it is important that you inform them in order to gain confidence and support. If you inform your management from the beginning they will be aware about the goals of this course and this way of training. Informing them will avoid to high expectations. If you create a good project plan, communicate on a regular basis with your management and show them preliminary results, they will respond positive to the results of your course. You may encounter resistance to your innovations, butif you are well prepared you will overcome these barriers.

Deliver your course on a CD/DVD or through the Web.

An e‐course does not necessarily need an internet connection. If your target audience is situated on a single location, you can deliver it on a CD or DVD. If you target audience is spread over different locations, the use of the internet may be a good solution. Make sure that all links are working well. If you are using a Learning Management System (LMS) you will have the possibility to invite, to manage and to follow your learners.

Directions for use and assistance

When launching your course you need to provide some assistance on technical and content level. Even when the pilot users did well, the target audience may not be ready for an e‐course and need to get


used to this way of training. You will need to motivate your learners from continuously.

Maintenance

Make sure that you can rely on a team to maintain, to update and to adjust the e‐course when needed. If your course is very successful you need to think about availability and bandwidth needed for a larger group.

10. Evaluation The last step of the ADDIE model consists of evaluating the whole process. In this phase we distinguish two possibilities: a formative and a summative evaluation.

Here you will learn more about those two ways of evaluation.

Formative Evaluation When evaluating your new course you want to know how your material was liked/disliked and if the process of the course fits the needs of the users.

Material evaluation:

This you can do in several ways:

• Pilot tests; with a small group of users to see if your course is well understood and where the users are struggling with the content.

• Expert review; to assure that the content fits the needs. • Development try‐out; to find out if all elements work well in

the different environments you want to use.

Process evaluation:


Here you look at your product/course.

Pay attention to the following aspects:

• Language: No spelling mistakes? Do you use easy to understand words, not too technical? Take into account the level of your learners.

• Content: Is all content up to date, complete and correct.? • Graphical: Does your course look nice. Pay attention to the

look and feel of your course. Be consistent! • Interface: Is your course easy to use, easy to navigate. • Didactical: Do you respect the didactical principles (Global,

Analytic, Summarised). • Target group; Is your course directed to your target group.

Summative Evaluation Based on the model of Kirk Patrick we distinguish four levels

1. Response: Learners reactions: Did the learner enjoy the course?

Create a small survey asking questions like:

• Were all instructions clear? • Was the navigation clear? • Did the content have a logical structure? • Was the content of good quality? • Was the instructor (if applicable) effective? • Was it easy to use the LMS?

2. Learning: Learners achievements: new knowledge & ideas

• What did they learn? Carry out a small test at the end of the course.


3. Behaviour: Applying the learning

• Are the learners implementing the learned elements? • Do they put the new skills to practice?

4. Results: Benefits for the organisation: Effect on results?

• Does the course generate more turnover? • Does the course generate more profit? • Does the course improve the effectiveness and results of the

learners?

The ADDIE‐model When we look at most applications of the ADDIE‐model we notice that the evaluation phase is the forgotten element. Most organisations skip this step. They are focused on launching the course and once the course has been launched, they are already focusing on the next course. In this case it may happen that the created course is of bad quality and delivers a wrong attitude to the learners which affect the company’s results and position.

The cost for evaluation is relatively low and the organisation only has to invest a limited amount of time. It is important that the time for evaluation has been planned before the course is launched.

First evaluate the course and what the people have learned. After a few months measure if the course has had an influence on the workplace and on the company’s growth.

If you set clear objectives in the Analysis phase you are more likely to carry out a good evaluation phase.


“I forget what I was taught; I only remember what I have learnt.”2

11. General recommendations • Always think from a learner’s perspective. This determines if

your course becomes a success or a failure. • Do not create a course that is too basic or too specialised.

Learner will get bored or drop out. • Try to think bottom‐up instead of top‐down. • Involve your learners: devise the solution together with your

learners, implement the solution together with the people concerned.

• Determine the success of your solution by how performance has improved or how well it addressed the problem and not by the number of people who passed the test or completed the course

• Do not block social media, learners will still find access to their favorite social media sites.

"The new sigarette break is the social media break where employees stand outside with their mobile phone and check in on their social networks."3

• Try to let them learn as they work. • Evolve towards a dynamic learning mindset which is rapid,

adaptive, collaborative and self‐directed learning at the moment of need.

• Learners o have short attention spans; o are very social and love to share;

2 Patrick White, 1912‐90, Australian novelist and 1973 Nobel Prize winner for Literature, from The Solid Mandala, 1966 3 http://internettime.posterous.com/the‐social‐media‐cigarette‐break


o enjoy working in teams, interaction is key to their learning;

o prefer to learn just in time; immediate access to information they can apply instantly;

o need immediate feedback; o are independent learners; o prefer to construct their own learning from different

sources.

Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu ‐ National Louis University has been well known among the best Polish universities for years. Practical approach to education combined with a solid educational backround and modern technological facilities makes WSB‐NLU one of the pioneers in many fields of science and business. WSB‐NLU ‐ a place for people with passion.

Vilnius Business College is a non‐profit private training organization providing higher education as well as formal and informal education in the fields of business administration, finances, languages and ICT.

The Belgian Network for Open and Digital Learning is a non‐profit making organization. It aims at establishing cooperation between statutory organizations and private companies with a view to a growing implementation of e‐ learning in training programmes for employees in Belgium.

Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE Riga) is one of the leading business schools in Baltic countries, which offers quality education in economics and business administration. SSE Riga has been involved in a number of research projects related to business development in Baltic Rim.

RayCom BV in Utrecht, The Netherlands is a software development company that specializes in web‐based solutions for knowledge development, knowledge exchange and business.

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